Decker's Fate (The Decker Brothers Trilogy Book 1)

by K. R. Richards

  She continued, “I’ll just ask Spirit to help us levitate or move the table, so they know our intention. We can close our eyes for a minute and concentrate on that. We should be able to feel the energy build. Generally, you will feel the energy moving around the table in a circular motion, in our case hopefully an oval pattern. Don’t expect too much tonight, as this is our first sitting together. We could possibly get a little movement, but don’t be disappointed if we don’t. Generally, a group has to meet and work together several times for anything to start happening. We should feel the energy moving around the table. The more we sit together, the better it will get. Shall we start?”

  They all placed their fingertips on the top of the oak table.

  Decker did feel an energy starting to build, not unlike the warmth he felt during the meditation.

  Then the tabletop felt almost like rippling water. The wood grew warmer beneath his fingers.

  “Very cool,” Brody whispered.

  “I feel it too.” Liam chuckled.

  “We’ve definitely raised the energy. We can open our eyes now,” Jade said. “This is unusual to get a response like this at the very beginning.”

  “Uh, yeah, it usually takes fifteen minutes to a half hour to get this kind of energy flow,” Harper agreed.

  “So what happens now?” Liam asked.

  “We just need to laugh and have fun. Happiness elevates our vibrations. Joy and love emotions are the highest of human vibrations, aside from Divine communication, of course. We have to raise our vibrations, to meet Spirit’s higher vibrations. The Spirit guides here with us tonight actually have to lower their vibration to communicate with us. It’s like meeting each other halfway.”

  “So do we tell jokes and stuff?” Brody asked.

  “No.” Harper looked to Brody. “We sing. Music is a great way to raise our vibrations.”

  “Decker doesn’t sing,” Brody interjected, receiving several chuckles from around the table.

  “Not that he doesn’t sing, he can’t sing.” Liam laughed. “I’ve heard him a couple of times, it’s horrible.” He scrunched up his face. The action elicited a few giggles from the girls.

  “I just choose not to.” Decker responded with a shrug. He cast a glare in Liam’s direction.

  Erin began with the first refrain of “Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream…”

  Harper signaled to Brody for them to jump in. Jade sang along and Decker gave her an amused smile.

  Some of them became more creative after about ten verses.

  Brody tried a dramatic opera-type baritone on the next round, which brought a round of giggles.

  Max started to howl, which threw them all into a fit of laughter. The dog would quiet for a few minutes then start up again, causing them all to laugh harder.

  By this time, Decker felt bigger waves of pulsating energy beneath his fingertips.

  Liam began singing ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, which drew more laughter from the group.

  “I was getting tongue-tied with all the r’s,” he threw in between stanzas.

  “He just likes beer.” Brody grinned.

  After a few rounds of that, Harper started singing an old Three Dog Night tune. “Joy to the World, all the boys and girls…”

  Brody threw in a heartfelt and soulful, “Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea.”

  Harper added a loud and raspy, “Joy to you and me!”

  “Joy to the world,” Liam crooned and then looked to Decker. “Come on. Give it to us, Mikey.”

  “Everybody sing it now,” Decker chose to speak the words, not sing them. Perturbed, he raised a brow at his laughing brother. He turned to Jade and gave her a smile.

  The group continued to laugh and giggle. The strains of Joy to the World suddenly died down when they all started vying for elbowroom. It didn’t take them long to realize it was because the table had risen off the floor.

  Brody leaned his head down and looked to the table legs, then the floor. “Holy crap, it’s almost a foot off the floor,” he whispered in amazement.

  “Wow!” Liam looked down and grinned. “This is awesome.”

  Decker grinned at Jade.

  “Remember, it may just fall if we lose our connection, so keep your arms and legs where they were when we began,” Erin reminded them.

  “This thing called love, I just can’t handle it,” Liam began an Elvis tune with his best, which was not so good, Elvis impersonation.

  The others joined in.

  The table began to rock back and forth in time to the music.

  The group laughed and sang louder. Decker even joined in this time, as the table danced beneath their fingertips.

  Next, Harper launched into Pharrell Williams’ Happy.

  “I love this song; it makes me,” Harper belted out, “happy.” The table swayed rhythmically in time with the music, which started another round of giggles.

  Max sat staring at them, ears perked, as they went for another round of Happy, until something on the patio caught his eye. He emitted a sound that sounded like something between a bark and a growl. Hackles up, he jumped up, ran to the sliding glass door and rested his front paws on the glass. He barked, growled, and snapped as he tried to get at the dark blob that seemed to change shape and form on the other side of the door. The blob took the shape of a man.

  He stood in the dark shadows on the concrete beyond the reach of light pouring out from the kitchen.

  The table slid gently back to the floor when the group, one by one, realized what was going on.

  The man stepped closer to the glass.

  It was Ciaran O’Sullivan.

  “Shit!” Brody rose. Liam and Decker jumped to their feet.

  Ciaran put his hand upon the glass, which caused the alarm to go off.

  “If you are not of the highest, the truest and the best White Light, you must go. Leave now, I command you,” Erin called out in a loud, authoritative tone. She thrust out her hand.

  His shape and shadowy figure started to ripple. He growled in anger as he fought to keep his form. His ring glowed again until it was an ugly, dull shade of orange then he solidified once again.

  “I call upon Archangel Michael, his Band of Mercy and the angels of protection. Please surround us with a protective shield of White Light and defend us, now!” Standing, Jade thrust her hand out.

  Decker noticed a flash of blue light that seemed to streak from Jade’s fingertips.

  Ciaran howled in anger then jumped back from the glass.

  Decker swore that for just a moment he heard a flutter of wings in the room. He saw one more sparkling flash of white and blue move up the sliding glass door then disappear.

  “Go, the dark is not welcome here in this, our place of Light,” Harper called out in a strong voice as she thrust her hand out.

  “Hold hands, everyone. Hold hands,” Decker shouted as the orange glow of Ciaran’s ring dimmed once more and his form wavered on the other side of the glass. Decker reached for Jade’s and Erin’s hands, as they were closest to him.

  “We need to move back into the circle we cast!” Jade instructed them.

  They all stepped back into their original circle, outlined by the lit candles, and joined hands. The energy rose and built quickly. It seemed to pulse and race through their hands as it moved like electricity through their circle.

  Decker looked to see Ciaran’s form begin to ripple again. “Let’s think about him leaving.”

  “We join as one to banish the evil one, the dark one!” Brody shouted over the alarm and the barking, growling dog.

  “Concentrate on pushing that bastard back,” Liam commanded. “On the count of three, we will try it.”

  “One. Two. Three!”

  Ciaran was pushed back about two feet. He let out an angry roar. His form thinned and started to disperse.

  The man, who now appeared to be mostly a grayish shadow, did step forward once more. He solidified enough to put his hands on the glass
. “This is not finished. I will stop you, every single one of you,” he screamed out in anger.

  “Again. Let’s push him back,” Decker shouted over the alarm. “One, two, three!”

  Ciaran howled as he slid back further. His voice was thick, gritty and sounded inhuman, “I am coming for you Jade Murphy. Look at me. Look into my eyes. You will be mine.” He pointed a long finger at her. “Mine,” it came out a loud, deep growl that sounded like that of a large, wild animal.

  “Look at me, babe!” Decker told her. “Look at me, don’t listen to him. Don’t look at him. He’ll never get to you. Ever.”

  Her eyes met Decker’s, calm pools of brilliant blue. She locked her gaze with his, felt the squeeze of his fingers on hers. In his eyes, she saw his determination. She believed Decker. She had to.

  “You will pay with your blood!” Ciaran shouted. He was growing more transparent now. “You cannot defeat me. In eight hundred years, none of your ancestors ever have.” An eerie laugh followed his words. It faded with his shadowy form to nothing.

  “We will destroy you, I can promise you that,” Liam ground out as he dropped Harper and Erin’s hands then limped quickly toward the office to turn off the alarm.

  Brody checked the patio door and turned on the patio lights, the spotlights, and floodlights. He peered outside. “I don’t see anything out there.”

  “What the hell?” he breathed as he turned back around and shook his head.

  Liam returned to the room. “I called and told the police not to come. I told them the dog opened the patio door on his own. I do have some bad news. The guy doesn’t show up on camera. I checked the videos from all three cameras on the patio from the last ten minutes. I fast-forwarded through. He doesn’t show up. You can see Max attacking the glass, and see some of us through the glass, but no Ciaran standing there or in the reflections of the glass. I saw a gray, smoky substance that showed up once or twice for a few seconds.”

  “We’ll get some Kirlian cameras and set them up on the outside,” Brody announced. “We still won’t be able to see him, but we should be able to pick up his energy when he’s around.”

  Liam looked to Decker then to Erin. “Girls, how would you feel about staying here with us longer? I really don’t think you need to go back to your apartment, even if we beef up your security. We need to figure out how to stop this guy first.”

  “Yes. I think we should stay.” Pale and wide-eyed, Erin looked to Harper.

  Harper thought a moment, shifted and looked to Jade. She had no idea how to stop this guy. They would be safer if they stayed together. They had pushed him back when the six of them held hands and focused.“You don’t have to ask me twice after that.” She let out a heavy sigh.

  “Nor me. I think we just proved we are stronger together.” Jade shivered. “Will it be a burden for you if we stay longer, Decker?”

  “Absolutely not. After tonight, I won’t have it any other way. You need to stay here with us. I think it’s safe to say that we are stronger together, the six of us, especially with the protection you called in. He started to fade even more when we joined hands. It seemed to make him angrier when you called in the spiritual protection and then we all joined together to stand against him.”

  “It did weaken him.” Harper nodded.

  Everyone else agreed.

  “Did you reset the alarm?” Brody asked.

  “I did. We’d better check the system though.” Liam headed down the hallway. Brody followed him.

  “We’re all a little shaky from the meditation, the intense energy we created during our levitation, and the scare from that…demon.” Erin went into the kitchen and returned carrying bottles of cold water.

  Decker snagged one, and handed another to Jade. She took a long drink.

  “I hate this, I really do.” Jade shook her head in frustration. She turned to Decker. “Does he think I’m the weak link here? Is that why he is after me?”

  “No. Even if he does, you are certainly not a weak link. I think he’s after you because if one of us breaks from the circle, it’s over. There can be no six,” Decker responded.

  “He’s after you because you and Decker are a thing. You’re his girlfriend. Remember, in the vision, the man and woman who resembled you and Decker were married and had a child. Maybe he thinks if he can stop you and Decker from getting together, then it doesn’t matter about any of the rest of the six,” Harper said matter-of-factly. “I am guessing that if there were no six, and no babies from any of the Decker brothers, he could continue to exist and not worry about being destroyed.”

  Decker had another theory, but he wasn’t about to mention it in front of Jade. He would tell his brothers later. In his dream yesterday, Ciaran was obsessed with Daragh’s wife. Jade looked very much like her.

  “In the vision he killed the men,” Jade cast a worried glance in Decker’s direction. “And a fourth person died too, there were four graves, all fresh.”

  “Don’t worry about it, babe. He’s not going to hurt any of us, because we’re not going to allow it. We’ll spend every minute of our spare time researching and working together, to learn what we need to know. We’re all going to be fine.” He pressed a kiss to her temple.

  Brody and Liam carried the table back into the office then returned to the family room.

  “I’m going to re-arrange my schedule this week,” Brody informed them. “I only had one job lined up this week anyway. I’ll pass it to my friend, Brad. We give each other security installation jobs sometimes when we can’t take one. I’ll call him first thing in the morning.”

  “Brody and I are going to continue to go through Mom’s research, beef up our system to pick up on energy in addition to normal humans, and look for her other notebook here. We’ll take Jade to work tomorrow, and after that, Brody will take the girls to the shop and stay with them. He wants to put in a security system there too,” Liam announced.

  “That’s a great idea. I’d feel better knowing Annie, Claire, and Riley are safe when we’re not there.” Erin rose and stretched.

  They continued to talk about everything, threw ideas out, and tried to decide what things were the most important to take care of first on their growing list of things they needed to do to learn how to defeat Ciaran.

  After another hour passed, Jade yawned loudly and informed them, “It’s getting late. I’m tired. It is bedtime for me. I have to work tomorrow.” She rose.

  “Me too. Four a.m. comes early. Wake me up if you need me.” Decker looked to Liam and Brody. They each gave him a nod.

  “If we need you, we will,” Liam assured him. “I’m up for awhile.”

  Brody, Erin, and Harper announced they were staying up too.

  Decker followed Jade into their, no still his, bedroom. It was early in their relationship, but at that moment, he realized that he wouldn’t mind her staying, after they knew one another better. It was far too early to be thinking these kinds of thoughts. He reminded himself to proceed slowly. He did hope things worked out well between them because he wouldn’t mind sharing his house and bedroom with her. He liked having her near him. A lot. He reasoned, things could always change, he hoped like hell they didn’t, but they could.

  “I’ll undress and brush my teeth, babe, it will just take a minute,” he said.

  “Can you leave the bathroom door cracked?” She shuddered and wrapped her arms around herself.

  “Not a problem.” He pressed a quick kiss to her lips before he went to do his thing.

  She was sitting on the bed holding Sam when he came out in a clean pair of boxers.

  Damn, he had a fine body! The muscles of his arms and legs were well defined. The sight of his broad shoulders and finely chiseled abs just did things to her. That beautiful chest tapered into a slim waist and hips. He was not overly bulky like a body builder, but he was solid muscle. Tearing her eyes from that body, Jade rose, grabbed her neatly folded pajamas from the chair at the desk, gave him one more appreciative look, along with a sm
ile, and went into the bathroom.

  “I’m leaving the door open a little,” she called out. She hated that she was so terrified, but there was the huge window in the bathroom and Ciaran had just appeared at the patio door. The memory gave her the incentive to hurry through her nightly routine.

  Five minutes later, she made her way to the bed. Once the light was out, Decker pulled her into his arms and gave her another dreamy kiss. It was gentle and sweet.

  “Good night, babe,” he whispered as he bent his head for one more quick peck on the lips. “Sleep well and don’t worry about any of this.”

  “I’ll try not to. Good night.” She snuggled into him. She yawned then added, “Having you with me helps. A lot.”

  He pressed a kiss to her temple. “Good.”

  With the muscled, hard-bodied, Decker wrapped around her, she felt safe, and did fall asleep eventually.

  The sound of the alarm beeping didn’t startle her as much this morning.

  “Morning,” she croaked after he turned off the alarm.

  Instead of getting out of bed, he turned back and bent over her.

  “Good morning,” he whispered. In the deep shadows of pre-dawn, she watched his lips curve into a smile. He bent his head and kissed her.

  They shared a long, slow, languorous kiss. The play of tongues and lips along with their tender caresses seemed to last forever in the dark quiet. When he pulled back, they were both breathless and trembling with need.

  Before he sat upright, his hand glided along her cheek to smooth back her hair before he lowered once more to press a kiss to her temple. “Go back to sleep, babe. The alarm is set for six-thirty.”

  “I’ll try to go back to sleep, but that kiss was pretty potent, Decker.”

  “Yeah?” She saw him grin in the semi-darkness. “I agree. My lady is a great kisser. Now get some more sleep, you need it, and I need a cold shower after that kiss.” He rose, petted the stretching Sam who wandered to the edge of the bed, meowing for his attention.

  “I’ll see you at five tonight,” he told her.

  “Yes, you will. I work tonight at White Magic after I leave the hotel.”